Monday, January 02, 2012

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

With A Job, Life Improves For 9th Grade DropoutNPR, Pennsylvania - December 27, 2011This morning, we have an update on a story we first heard this past summer, as NPR aired a series about high school dropouts. In that series we heard from Kenny Buchanan. The 44-year-old dropped out when he was in the 9th grade. We met him not long after he got his GED in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.

BCC offers second chance to high school dropoutsSouth Coast Today, Bristol, MA – December 29, 2011Bristol Community College will open admission to the first Gateway to College class in January to give local high school dropouts a second chance to earn their high school diploma this spring.

Juvenile Justice

Everychild Gives $1 Million to Juvenile Justice CenterPalisadian-Post, Los Angeles, CA – December 29, 2011Centinela Youth Services, Inc. has been named the recipient of the $1 million 2012 Everychild Foundation grant. The funds will launch and sustain a restorative justice center across the street from three Los Angeles juvenile courts over a three-year period.

Lawmakers prepare for busy year beneath Gold DomeReporter Newspapers, Georgia – December 29, 2011Sandy Springs legislators will be busy when they return to the Gold Dome on Jan. 9 for the start of the General Assembly. Rep. Wendall Willard, R-Sandy Springs, said one of his priorities for the session is to reform the state’s juvenile justice system.

Foster Care

Healing Native Spirits in MN Long-Term Foster CarePublic News Service, Minneapolis, MN – December 29, 2011A unique program in south Minneapolis is finding success helping American Indian boys in long-term foster care. The director of the Healing Spirit program for boys, Kirk Crow Shoe, says the group home they operate takes in teens with a history of running away, skipping school and runs-ins with police. Many have been placed in multiple foster-care situations without success.

York County reduces need for foster careYork Dispatch, York County, PA – December 26, 2011In just two years, York County has reduced the number of children in foster care by nearly 50 percent. Deb Chronister, director of the county's Office of Children, Youth and Families, applauds the county's efforts over the past year to dramatically cut down on the number of children entering the foster care system. "Too many of these young adults end up 'aging out' of the foster care system without the support of a permanent family to help them cope with the often stressful transition to adulthood," said Joan Benso, president and chief executive officer of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, speaking of foster care statewide.

Teen Pregnancy

Teen moms have a friend in St. Louis high schoolSt. Louis Today, St. Louis, MO – December 27, 2011ucked away from the raucous hallways of Vashon High School are four isolated classrooms.Inside one, an infant boy sleeps. In another, a pair of 1-year-olds color on yellow construction paper. In a different room, four 2-year-olds listen as their teacher reads a story.

County’s teen pregnancy rate drops by 22%The Herald-Sun, Durham, NC – December 29, 2011Durham County’s teen pregnancy rate plummeted 22 percent in 2010, according to data released by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina this month. The decline was driven by decreases in pregnancies across the board, the most significant of which was a 48 percent drop among Latina teenagers, which in recent years have posted the highest rates.